Bitten By Magic by Kelliea Ashley Read Free Book Online Page B

could leave her there, but most of the guests were staying and it would look rather odd to see the bride coming from one of those rooms when her new husband clearly slept the day at the opposite end of the Hive. He swung to the left with an impatient growl that rumbled through his chest. He felt her stiffen in his arms and lengthened his stride. He would deposit her in his bedchamber before deciding. Who was he kidding? He could smell her hot blood, still taste it on his tongue. He wanted to feed from her, to connect with her as a true Vampire should with his mate. He was damned if he did take her and damned if he didn’t because he was pretty sure he’d be aching for her the rest of the night.
    He stopped at his doors and juggled her enough to open them. There were thick curtains of dark brown covering huge windows blocked by shades. The shades were halfway pulled up, enough that he could see the warning of light on the horizon. The sun would be rising soon. He set her down on her bare feet and shut the door, locking it with a practiced flick of his wrist before he moved to the antique armoire to pick up the remote. A press of a button and the shades automatically dropped down, blocking out the world beyond them as artificial lights came on above them in the form of recessed lighting.
    ***
    Alexa stared around her at the very large room. The walls were painted a rough texture of beige and adorned by works of art. She didn’t want to be impressed, but she was. The furniture consisted of dark cherry antiques, including a big, king-sized sleigh bed that looked like it could fit four or five people beneath the brown comforter. She pulled her eyes from the massive bed to watch him as he moved across the room to a pair of doors. Sliding one back, he disappeared inside a huge walk-in closet, only to reappear seconds later with several articles of clothing draped over his arm.
    “These, I believe, are yours. I’ll let you have the shower first.” His cold gaze momentarily met her bewildered one as he thrust her favorite pair of pajamas at her. She clutched the soft satin to her chest. “The bathroom is through that door.” He gestured to the door to her right before aiming the remote at the wall beside her. A cabinet slid open and a flat screen television appeared. The screen flicked on to the early news. Her shock must have registered because he growled as he sat on the bed.
    “Even we bloodsuckers like to keep up with the world at large. You are wasting your bathing time and I am really ready to get out of this monkey suit.”
    Alexa was glad to escape into the bathroom, but as she looked at the pink satin in her hands she felt like crying. How had he obtained her pajamas? They shouldn’t be here. She’d left them neatly folded in the top drawer of her beloved dresser with its secret compartment at the very bottom. Her journal was hidden away from all eyes but hers. Was it lost to her now? She felt despair so deep that it forced her to sit down on the wide edge of the spacious tub.
    She would just have to get it back; that was all. Wilhelm Chambers could not keep her a prisoner for long. Her lockdown spell would dissipate with the setting of the sun, so she had all day to hunt out Levi-the-Traitor and get some answers before she could leave this place. She’d be forced to come back. She wasn’t a fool. Alexa was bound solidly to the undead demon lounging in the next room. In the eyes of her people she was his and her place was beside him. The penalties for leaving one’s mate were simple; excommunication and removal of her magical talents. A death sentence to any witch, but as the Keeper of the Treaty her life would be taken as well. Hand fasting was a bitch! Her eyes rolled as she stood up to look around the black and white bathroom. The tiles were marble, the walls stark white with a few ink sketches and no mirror.
    What would a Vamp need with a mirror anyways? It wasn’t as if he could check his nonexistent